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Sword of the Hunter Ch3 Writeup
Sword of the Hunter Write Up – Ch3 A coastal breeze is the first thing to greet our two hunters after the small showdown of Marco desperately trying to protect his manhood from more assault. At this point he is now nursing the small scuffs Abby had managed to land on him during that time. Abby herself is sitting at the edge of a cliff face, watching waves lap against the hard rock below. “So, do you have any idea where we are right now?” She says after some time. “No clue.” “You’re unreliable as always.” She pulls herself off from her perch and begins pacing around, cheeks puffed. Marco himself gives a quick look-over of the nearby ocean and surroundings. Not much could really be said about it; flat hills populated with trees and light foliage and an ocean. The forested area did get a bit denser the further you looked in, but it wasn’t heavily packed by any stretch of the word. The unmistakable sound of a rumbling stomach is the only thing to break the silence between the two. Surprisingly, it wasn’t Marco’s this time. “You know, we could always kill a squirrel or something,” he says helpfully. This only gets him a sharp glare from Abby, who retorts, “Look, I’m not that hungry.” She turns around and points at the forest, “Forgetting that, it looks like I can sense her…there…somewhere.” She sweeps a hand in a small arc in front of her, “Powerful if I could sense her from here…the distance seems pretty far.” Ignoring this revelation Marco simply asks, “Wait, you’re technically a demon. Why do you even need to eat?” “…You’re still on that? Cmon we have a job to do so we can actually afford that food you’re wondering about.” Immediately she heads off into the forest with a quick, but wavering walk. Seems as though the hunger was getting to her after all. Given the two of them hadn’t eaten for about two days straight, their previous quarry having avoided their grasp for the better portion of those days, it was no surpriseHellhounds, while vicious, are also amazingly hard to track and catch when they realize they're being chased rather than chasing. Two days is actually an amazingly quick amount of time to find groups like that.. Amidst the sounds of stomachs and petty arguments they eventually found the mark. It was an abandoned decrepit looking mansion in the middle of a field. What remained of a field anyway. The entire area seemed scorched, and what little foliage was growing out of the mounds of bare dirt only served to emphasis this. The two approach the dwelling (If you could even call it that) with caution. “Welcoming isn’t it?” Marco remarks. “Shut up,” she replies materializing her scythe. Marco simply reaches toward the old front door and it falls down with a simple touch of the doorknob. The ensuing bang echoes throughout the empty halls. The interior matched the exterior quite well. It was worn, old, and seemed to want to fall down at the slightest breezeIn fact parts of the staircase railing did fall from that breeze caused by the door opening. Sorry. Falling.. They step inside, the floorboards creaking under them. “Well, aren’t you going to arm yourself?” “Nah, you got it covered.” “You realize you’re hiding behind a twelve-year old girl right?” She looks back with a slight glare of disdain. The scythe head glimmers in what little light made it into the mansion. She runs this blade on the ground behind her as she walks towards the staircase, “…Up here.” The two ascend, each step almost giving way as they walk up. The entire upper floor was lined with doors down the length of a long hallway. “I’m going to guess that door,” Marco says pointing at one of them. Frankly, it was fairly obvious. That one door was pristine. I don’t mean just ‘not run down’. I mean the door was glowing with gold trimmings, silver lining, the works. For all intents and purposes it was pretty much literally glowing. “So, how are we going to approa-“ Abby finishes just about there. At that point, Marco charged down the hall and dropkicked the door. “Like that.” Thud. A cloud of dust kicks up as the door hits the ground. The room behind it was very lavishly decorated, but still in a state of dust and cobwebs. While this was immediately noticeable, what caught the two hunter’s eyes was a lithe blonde girl on the bedSprawled on the bed somewhat haphazardly, she was a short haired blonde fair skinned girl. She fit the entire image of a vampire. Slender, beautiful, and seemingly other worldly. The only exception was her eyes were a vivid golden color rather than the stereotypical red.. She let out a yelp as the door hit the ground, backing away instinctively from it. Pulling the sheets up around her, she blurts out, “Who…who are you?” “Yo. I’m here to subdue you,” Marco says with a wave. “Eh?!” Abby pushes past, looking at the scene before her, “Did you really manage to scare the quarry?” “You’re the one with the scythe.” The so-called vampireDespite being the fitting image of a vampire, she doesn't actually have any of the personality aspects of them. I should take some time to explain the classic vampires which I've encountered. They're the regal type, but playful. And by playful I mean finding intricate and interesting ways to seduce then murder you. The countless amounts of men and women that fell to a playing vampire's games piles up well above the Burj Khalifa in scale. They were also something of repositories for knowledge, given how long lived the true full blooded ones were. On that note, true vampires have been here since the 1600s, and were combat masters thanks to that. Alex, therefore, is truly a very unique being in lieu of these facts. backs away even more now, hitting the wall behind her. She pulls the blankets even closer, only her shoulders up being visible now. “Obviously. She’s the quarry. I’m here to hunt,” Abby says whilst flourishing the scythe behind her. “Are you sure? She’s cute.” The ‘quarry’ was reduced to hiding in the sheets by now, a small lump the only thing marking her location on the bed. Abby pushes past Marco; pulling her weapon in front of her, ready to strike, “Cute or not she’s the ticket to food, and maybe your reputation.” Marco flips her skirt at this point. With a little too much force as well. He pulls her right off her feet and she barrels down to the floor with a yelp. Course this leaves her most valuable assets completely exposed. White. Abby twists around onto her feet from that position amazingly quickly, swinging the scythe in a wide arc behind her, “You…IDIOT!” Strips of wallpaper and wood snow down, the swing taking a good chunk out of the wall. The head passes just above Marco’s head, shaving off a few hairs. “Hey! That’s dangerous!” He instinctively backs away, stumbling out of the doorway. More wood and wallpaper begin to fly to fly as Abby mercilessly hacks away. The scythe becomes nothing more than a blur at points, yet Marco manages to dodge practically all of them without fail. Ducking and waving just centimeters away from the blade head he waits until he sees an opening. Just as he does he grabs the shaft of the weapon and holds the scythe at bay. “Idiot! Let go you pervert!” She makes no effort to pry it out of his hands, though. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, you have a nice figure for a twelve year old.” Tactful as ever. She rips the scythe out of his grasp and drops him to the ground. Two thuds follow, one from his body hitting the ground and the other being the blade being buried into the floorboards next to the head, “Just where are you looking?!The obvious place, Miss Adler. The obvious place.” “Look! I was only trying to compliment you!” “It's ''not'' working!” she exclaims burying the scythe even further into the wood. The tension is broken soon, however, as a soft giggle grows louder behind them. Looking towards the source, the two see the little vampire laughing. Small tears form in the corner of her eyes and she wipes them away, looking at the two hunters in front of her, “You two are very strange people.” “I guess you could say that,” Marco remarks. She simply giggles again in response. Abby wheels around, and rips the scythe from the floor swinging it around. The blade cleaves clear through the doorframe. Pointing the head at the vampire, she protests, “Why aren’t you some sort of evil thing terrorizing villages or something?!” Marco pushes himself off the floor, dusting himself off, “That’s what I’d been trying to get at you know. I mean look, she’s harmless.” He gestures to her. Sighing, Abby lowers the scythe, “Well, what the hell are we supposed to do then?” “Well the job said only to subdue her, nothing about killing or sealing.” Abby gives him a look, “You know subduing means sealing, right?” “Let’s just pretend I didn’t know that,” he responds, “Lets try this. What’s your name Miss?” The vampire looks up at him, placing a finger on her lips. She looks at the two hunters, her surroundings, and then back again. Lost in thought for a few moments she finally responds, “Its Alexia…” “Alexia, huh? That’s a nice name,” Marco steps in the room, “Say…how would you like to see the world?” “Huh?” she responds inquisitively. “I’m with her, what are you talking about Marc?” He simply shrugs his shoulders, “Well, she doesn’t look like she leaves here much, what with her aversion to sunlight and all. Why not take her with us?” “How the hell does that solve the problem?” Abby pries.“Well I figure that if we take her with us, she’d technically be subdued?” He says, looking back at Alex, “Course I doubt that would be very hard.” He walks up to the bed, and holds out a hand. She looks at it for a moment before staring back at his face. “So. What do you say? Travel with us for a bit.” Before Alex even has a chance to reply, Abby grabs Marco’s arm and forces it down. Looking him dead in the eyes she asks, “You expect us, the people who can barely afford gas, to take with us an archdemon?” “Well. Yes.” In one sweeping motion, she summons her scythe and clubs him in the back of the head with the shaft. There is quite an audible crack as it connects to his skullIf it wasn't for all the magic coursing him, I think he'd have some serious brain damage by this point.. “You idiot! How the hell would we even begin to look after all three of us!? We can barely feed ourselves, much less a vampire!” Marco rubs the back of his head, the pain only growing over time. He looks at Alex who by this point was staring at the two of them. She had dropped her vice grip on the blankets, the sheets now spread around her legs. He contemplates for a second before reaching a solution, “Well, she ''is'' a vampire right? She can just drink my blood''Very'' unhealthy for you, by the way, but only when they are drinking to turn or kill. When they aren't drinking to turn, the host actually gains several attributes. Mainly the enhanced strength and reaction speed, along with some of the regenerative powers. Of course not drinking to turn or kill is unprecedented within the long history of vampires. You might wonder how I know what happens if it is unprecedented. Take three guesses on who provided me with the sample. The first two don't count..” “…''Seriously''?” Abby simply stares blankly at him, a look of disdain and disbelief frozen on her face. Marco simply responds with a nod and holds out his hand again. “So, how about it?” Alex stares at it for a few more minutes, looking between him, Abby, and the window leading outside. After a few seconds she finally responds, “…Okay.” She tenderly takes his hand. Shifting to the side of the bed, she slips off and onto the floor without a sound. Standing at just a little over his height, she was noticeably taller than Abby, but not by much. Creeping behind Marco, she uses him as a barrier and peeks out peering at Abby, “U-um…you’re not going to…hurt me are you?” Marco pats Alex’s head, “Nah, she’s about as harmless as a kitten now…to you at any rate.” Abby’s eyes narrow, “You looking to get hit again?” She spins her scythe once behind her back menacingly but dismisses it shortly afterwards, “If anything she should stop sticking so close to you.” Her glare with that statement seems to carry a bit more than a harmful intent. Perhaps a bit of jealousy? Of course Marco takes this observation to heart, “Oh? Do you want to take her place?” He pulls in Alex to his front and hugs her around the neck. A malicious smile creeps onto his face. “O-of course not! The idiot might rub off,” Abby hastily says in response, “Anyway! I don’t think that shadow you’re casting is going to protect her any from the sunlight.Unlike the stories, sunlight doesn't actually burn/kill a true vampire. It simply denies them their powers and irritates their eyesight. Extended exposure is still not good for them, as once they leave the direct light it weakens them considerably for some time. This still remains a viable, if not main, strategy for defeating true vampires, naturally.” She quickly turns around, crossing her arms, “How exactly are we going to deal with that?” “U-um,” Alex reaches up and grasp’s Marco’s hands, “It is actually enough…” As she says this, his shadow appears to begin melding with her feet. Within a moment the darkness covers her entire body and her form seems to lose rigidity, and drops into his shadow as though it were a mass of water falling into a seaA small explanation of the powers of a vampire. Enhanced strength, speed, regenerative, and reflexive abilities. The curious ability to 'zoom into' an area with their eyes much like looking through binoculars. Finally, the ability displayed here, to meld with and manipulate with shadows. Particularly human shadows. I would say charisma and regality as well, but Alex here seems to prove that isn't an inherent ability.. Marc stumbles back, “…Christ, I thought the whole shadow thing was a myth.” He taps his foot on the ground a few times, “I kinda feel a little heavier actually. Definitely not her full weight, though.” Nodding, he looks to Abby, “Solves that problem, huh?” “Meh, I guess,” she responds pouting. “More importantly, how the hell do we know where to go next?” She walks over to the window and casts it open, sunlight pouring into the room, “We have no idea where we are still. Unless miss vampire can tell us.” “Somehow I doubt that,” Marco walks up to the window himself, looking at the field and trees beyond it. “He didn’t give you anything while I was out or anything? Or were you too busy finding a reason to hit me after I woke up?” She jabs him in his side rather hard, her face flushing again, “That was your own damn fault!” Continuing to pound on him more, he takes the blows with a small chuckle. “I wish you’d just stop doing stuff like that and be more clear!” She exclaims after a few moments of this pounding. Realizing just what she said, her eyes widen slightly and she backs off immediately. “What was that?” Marco asks inquisitively, “More clear about what?” She looks frantically around the room before responding, “Abso-Absolutely nothing!” Her face getting redder, she finally turns around and hurries out of the room, “Just forget you heard anything!” The sounds of her frantic steps echoes through the house as she almost practically falls down the stairs. “Heh, she’s cute when she’s obvious.” Marco chuckles to himself. He reaches into his coat pocket pulling out a small envelope, “Don’t mention that this was always there, Alex.” A small, barely audible “Yes” emanates from his sleeve. He looks down this sleeve with an amused look before ripping apart the top of the envelope. Giving the contents a quick glance over, a smile spreads across his face. He begins to head out the door opening. “Sooo, Alex, do you know where the nearest town is?” Footnotes=